Imagine for a moment a scheme in which American taxpayers were taken to the cleaners to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and there was barely a hint of criticism or outrage. Imagine as well that the White House and a majority of the politicians in Washington,... Read more

Under the law, when a foreign government buys U.S. weapon systems through the Department of Defense those governments are required to reimburse the Department for research, development and other one-time costs for those systems. A recent audit by the Government Accountability Office found the department has waived $16 billion... Read more

On Feb. 7, 2018, the U.S. Senate reached a budget deal that would increase spending for the Pentagon and nuclear weapons to a mind-blowing $700 billion in 2018, while locking in an even higher figure for 2019. This would put the Pentagon budget at one of its highest levels... Read more

Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department’s already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is needed to “support the troops.” If you’re already nodding in agreement, let me explain just where a huge chunk of the Pentagon budget... Read more

You wouldn’t know it, based on the endless cries for more money coming from the military, politicians and the president, but these are the best of times for the Pentagon. Spending on the Department of Defense alone is already well in excess of half a trillion dollars a year... Read more

When Donald Trump wanted to “do something” about the use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria, he had the U.S. Navy lob 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield . The cost — $89 million. The strike was symbolic at best, as Bashar Al Assad’s regime launched bombing... Read more

From spending $150 million on private villas for a handful of personnel in Afghanistan to blowing $2.7 billion on an air surveillance balloon that doesn’t work, the latest revelations of waste at the Pentagon are just the most recent howlers in a long line of similar stories stretching back... Read more

In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Chief Financial Officers Act, which required every federal agency to be auditable. Since then every agency has complied — except for the Department of Defense. Instead, there’s been a saga of audit-readiness plans and billions of dollars spent to upgrade out-of-date financial... Read more

After a week of escalating tensions, Russian tanks and paratroopers, backed by artillery, helicopter gunships and fixed-wing warplanes, flood across the Estonian and Latvian borders. Despite NATO’s best efforts, Russian forces encircle the capitals of both countries in less than three days. Thankfully this is not reality … at least not yet. It’s... Read more

On its face, the Pentagon’s budget request for the 2017 fiscal year is bad for the Navy — seven billion dollars in cuts, including one fewer warship than planned and the loss of 6,300 sailors. But the Navy will become a much deadlier force … to other ships. It’s because the Pentagon is buying anti-ship... Read more